I’ve got a few new interesting items in the hopper as well as some old ends that need to be tied up. For now, a few newsworthy tidbits:

A man in Oregon has been in jail for two and a half years even though he is not accused of committing a crime. He is believed to be the longest held material witness in modern history. I have directly encountered this phenomenon before though never to this extreme.

A woman in Arizona was recently released from prison after serves 22 years for a wrongful conviction – 22 years on death row – for a crime she didn’t commit. I’m writing a chapter-length article on this one. Stay tuned. The Sword of God people are surely disappointed in this turn of events though not as disappointed as God is in them and their “swords.”

People everywhere are suffering similar tragedies. Keep voting for all those liars and maniacs… Based on these stories I may revise How to Interact With the Police.

Two months ago I wrote Police State America whereby I recounted the militarization of our police and the trappings of Program 1033. Now, it seems those police agencies are no longer content with machine guns and tanks. Now they want A-10 fighter bombers in their arsenal. I hope this is a hoax but this is 21st Century Amerika… A-10s would do a great job stopping private drones over the National. These and other Posse Comitatus violations continue unabated.

Lately I’ve been harping on spying, hacking, drones, etc. a bit more than I might. But, darn, things these days are just ridiculous. Just when one thinks Big Brother can’t get any more intrusive – Hertz puts cameras in its rental cars!

The rental car giant has a little navigation device in some of its cars called NeverLost. Some of these units are equipped with a camera which is capable of filming the inside of the car. “Hertz added the camera as a feature of the NeverLost 6 in the event it was decided, in the future, to activate live agent connectivity to customers by video.”

(Every turn you make, every call you take… Fusion.com.)

Of course, it will only be used to “help” hapless drivers – clovers on vacation. They would never spy on you, record your doings, or pass said recordings along to our benevolent friends in the government. “See Judge, the defendant was eating a cheeseburger when he sped through the red light. Here’s a video!”

This is getting out of hand. Remember, the next time you rent a car play the radio really loud and put some electrical tape over the little camera in the dash. Then again, that would probably violate some idiotic law – the Interstate Rental Car Secret Surveillance Security, Anti-Terrorism, and Education/Agriculture Banking Act of 2015… Geesh…..

Should you have the honor of attending this years Masters Tournament you may breathe easy – no pesky drones will disturb your golf gazing. I doubt you were concerned to begin with. You probably hadn’t even considered the idea.

Never apt to miss out on a non-issue the idiots of the Augusta City Commission has outlawed the (private) use of unmanned aircraft during this year’s tournament. “Hoping to prevent a drone disruption at this year’s Masters Tournament, Augusta commissioners approved a county-wide ban on launching or operating the remote-controlled aircraft between April 2 and April 13.” Susan McCord, Drone ban in effect April 2-13, Augusta (GA) Chronicle, March 18, 2015.

The reasoning behind the ban is as solid as the air above the Augusta National: “Drones ‘have gotten very sophisticated,’ and Augusta has a ‘very big, international event’ coming up, said sheriff’s Col. Robert Partain.” This is as logically connected as saying there are a lot of people in India and pillows are very soft, thus we must own lawnmowers…

(Bad drone. Google Images.)

I was not present for the drafting, discussion or voting on this ordinance. I really don’t think that matters. The thing smells funny. The Chronicle mentions a single incident whereby an event was disrupted by a drone – one event in Europe. I have heard of no threat posed by non-government drones in America. Government drones are another story; see: Don’t Drone Me, Bro! and Droning On and On.

(Good drone. Google.)

Other American cities (Charlottesville, VA, Syracuse, NY, etc.) have previously banned drones. However, their bans are directed towards drones nefariously used by government agents in an effort to defend civil liberties. Charlottesville, home of Thomas Jefferson’s home and University, has a “long tradition of promoting civil liberties.” Augusta has a long tradition of the opposite kind.

Here follows the pertinent and sensible resolutions of Syracuse’s ordinance:

BE IT RESOLVED, that this Resolution declares that no agency of the City of Syracuse, nor any agents under contract with the City, will operate Drones in the airspace over the City of Syracuse until federal and state laws, rules and regulations regarding the use of Drones are adopted that adequately protects the privacy of the population as guaranteed by the First and Fourth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Syracuse Common Council urges our Federal and State officials to create and adopt such laws, rules and regulations regarding the use of Drones which ensures Constitutional protections of individuals; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that, to the extent permitted by law, it is the policy of this Common Council that no Drones will be purchased, leased, borrowed, tested or otherwise utilized by the City of Syracuse or its agencies, directly or through contract, until such Constitutional safeguards are in place, the appropriate personnel are trained and fully authorized by the FAA to safely operate Drones and that the Corporation Counsel of the City of Syracuse certifies that all City of Syracuse personnel engaged in the use of Drones have been trained in federal, state and local privacy laws, regulations, and enforcement mechanisms affecting drone operations and any data collected by drone operations…

Note that this ordinance is aimed at ensuring “Constitutional protections of individuals.” The Georgia version ensures a media monopoly for a single sporting event at the expense of the liberty of hundreds of thousands of individuals in the surrounding area. It is as stupid and illegal as it is unnecessary.

The National naturally desires to keep the most prestigious sporting event in the world private. That is understandable; they have a right to privacy. Happily, their rights and the rights of their patrons and golfers are protected by existing laws. Flying a drone over the property without permission already would constitute a trespass and a nuisance – prohibited by both existing criminal and civil tort law.

Now, should you, as a news reporter, wish to film from the air the crowd entering the National patron gate, you are out of luck. If you’re the President needing to remotely bomb demonstrators (terrorists), no problem. A real estate broker surveying land, not this week. A cop spying on a gardener, sure, why not. Concerned citizen keeping an eye on one of the cops’ illegal roadblocks, you are a criminal. See where this is going?

Something tells me that, if challenged, the Augusta ordinance will fall in Court – after the tournament is over, of course. I have already heard of plans to defy the law. One aviator proposes to use a balloon or kite to launch a camera skyward. Whether the city defines these devices as drones or not they will likely prosecute this man. They will lose. They will face a lawsuit. Those hundreds of thousands of citizens whose liberties have been infringed will be forced to pay damages. Sadly, those citizens will continue to re-elect the Commission. The beat goes on.

If you come to Augusta for the tournament, enjoy it. You’ll have a great, drone free experience. If you live in the Garden City, consider moving somewhere else where your rights are valued.

I have studied politics (formally and informally) since around 1980. In those days, everyone in the South tended to be Democrats, party-wise. My parents were proud Democrats at the time and were horrified when Ronald Reagan won the Presidency. I watched on. As the years progressed, I decided I was a “conservative” and, therefore, a Republican, much like Reagan.

I watched Family Ties back then and might have been influenced by the antics of Alex P. Keating. Then came the Rush Limbaugh era; I listened everyday after high…

Winston Smith and the other denizens of Oceania lived under perpetual surveillance via, among other apparati, their own televisions. Called “telescreens,” these ingenious, insidious devices constantly delivered government propaganda to the viewer while simultaneously recording what the viewer was up to. These screens were also located everywhere in public. Surveillance is freedom and such. For safety. For the children.

Behind Winston’s back the voice from the telescreen was still babbling away about pig-iron and the overfulfilment of the Ninth Three-Year Plan. The telescreen received and transmitted simultaneously. Any sound that Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it, moreover, so long as he remained within the field of vision which the metal plaque commanded, he could be seen as well as heard. There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment.

– 1984.

For a long time this scheme was relegated to the world of George Orwell’s dystopian masterpiece. Life often imitates art. Today telescreens are a reality (at least in theory).

(Google Images.)

First they put the “v-chip” in your TV. The chip allowed them to monitor what you were watching. This made it easier to prevent children from molesting terrorists or something.

Now, many TVs have the a little camera somewhere (so I’m told) which can capture whatever happens in front of the screen. Some consumers value these devices. Computers have long come equipped with a camera – for Skyping, etc. The camera can be turned on remotely by those with the technical know-how. As computers and TVs are usually connected to the web or a cable system they can transmit the information from the camera along the same line which delivers the service data. This information can be viewed and recorded.

Phones, tablets, automobiles and even refrigerators have similar capabilities/weaknesses. In other words, almost every gadget you use can be used to spy on you.

Authorities in England want to take this a step further. Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, head of London’s Metropolitan Police (“Scotland Yard”), wants closed circuit television cameras in every home and business in his jurisdiction. Similar tax-paid nuts will echo his sentiment everywhere taxes are collected.

True, such a system might make it easier to identify burglars and other criminals. It might also make it easier to surveil and spy on those who do not possess a modern TV, computer or smartphone.

Suppose you’re watching some politician reciting the usual lies on the tube one night. Maybe you’re just reading his remarks in the evening paper. Naturally, you mutter some unpleasant truth about the pol and his mother. Thirty minutes later a van pulls up to your house. You are never seen again. The children are safe…

With all this science fiction coming to life I’m just waiting on a broadcast from John Galt.

Oddly, in my experience, the Constitution itself is not required reading for Constitutional law classes. Rather, some imported parts of the document are set forth in the text-book used by the professor. This strikes me as intellectually dishonest and unwise, akin to using a dangerous power tool without first reading the directions. Herein, I briefly cover the usual course material from such as class. The professors, many of whom have never been in a court, let alone argued for or against the Constitution, regurgitate the rulings of different courts regarding a limited number of subjects. While there is an…

If you are unfortunate enough to view television these days undoubtedly you have seen a J.G. Wentworth commercial. They feature a variety of folks (opera singers, bus drivers, etc.) singing about the virtues of cashing in on structured settlements. They’re kind of catchy.

(Your money’s in the bank – go to jail noooow! Google Images.)

The federal gubmint has a similar scheme to cash in on your settlements. They call it “structuring” too! I wrote about the program several years ago. It is illegal to split cash deposits (your money mind you) so as to evade the banks’ legally mandated cash reporting process. Why the government needs to know how much money you deposit or that you deposit it, period, is beyond me. Something about fighting drugs and terrorists. Or was it drugged terrorists? Anyway, it’s all codified in 31 U.S.C. 5324.

Why split up the deposits? Beats me. That’s your business – or it should be. These days everything necessarily has to involve the government. Here are two examples of otherwise innocent splitting now criminalized by our kind friends in Washington:

“2. Jane needs $18,000 in cash to pay for supplies for her wood-carving business. Jane cashes a $9,000 personal check at a financial institution on a Monday, then cashes another $9,000 personal check at the financial institution the following day. Jane cashed the checks separately and structured the transactions in an attempt to evade the CTR reporting requirement.” CTR Pamphlet, www.fincen.gov.

“3. A married couple, John and Jane, sell a vehicle for $15,000 in cash. To evade the CTR reporting requirement, John and Jane structure their transactions using different accounts. John deposits $8,000 of that money into his and Jane’s joint account in the morning. Later that day, Jane deposits $1,500 into the joint account, and then $5,500 into her sister’s account, which is later transferred to John and Jane’s joint account.” CTR Pamphlet,www.fincen.gov.

Plain as can be. Jane and John are hardened criminals and need to spend time in jail. They will. Or, at least they will get probation and “forfeit” their money to the feds. So will Janet Malone of Dubuque, Iowa. Janet’s husband died and left her with the cash rewards of his gambling hobby. Janet decided the money would be better off in a bank rather than scattered around her house. She deposited some of it in a fashion which seemed reasonable to her. The IRS, always knowing better, objected.

With all the courtesy of starving termites they seized her money and have charged her with criminal structuring. She will probably enter some sort of guilty plea. Most people do. The IRS will likely keep her cash under civil forfeiture laws. There’s really nothing civil about it. Between 2005 and 2012 the IRS so seized about a quarter of a billion dollars in this fashion. It gave some of it back. Some. This is the same agency that now pays tax refunds to criminal illegal aliens who never paid taxes in the first place. Something smells on the Potomac.

Congress is incensed by this blatant theft from the people. They could just repeal the law or, better, abolish the IRS completely. They won’t. Instead they have convened a committee! It’s focus will center on stopping IRS abuse of small businesses. As an aside they may also examine the effects of Rearden Metal exposure on unicorns.

Know this: the government wants what you have. And, they’ll get it. They don’t even need a law to justify their thievery. The White house wants to raise taxes by executive decree. Abe Lincoln did this during the war between the States. The Supreme Court belatedly found this unconstitutional. Don’t hold your breath this time.

Do not look to Congress for any help. Remember the illegals? His Excellency, President Obama, has been using his pen to flout immigration laws. The brave Republican “opposition” collapsed faster than a jellyfish beneath a steam roller. This is the way it is.

As is, either keep your money to yourself or comply with the ridiculous law whilst banking. Otherwise, you’ll end up a poor inmate somewhere. It’s kind of like the old highwayman’s motto: “your money or your life.” Except these robbers write the law. Now you know.

Boston attorney Harvey Sliverglate wrote an insightful book called Three Felonies A Day, http://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp/1594035229, about how the average “law-abiding” American commits three “serious” offenses every day without realizing it. His point is one I have seen firsthand – the feds have thousands of laws, which criminalize everything imaginable, from which to choose to selectively prosecute anyone they want. They can always decline, but when they do target a citizen, that person is instantly in a world of pain.

Here’s an example of such a federal criminal law you didn’t know about and probably have committed. After law school, passing the bar exam, and practicing criminal law for years, I had never heard of it until one particular case (maybe I’m dumb…). The mere existence of the law and it’s application potential I find staggering.

I had a client charged with another crime who received a wrist-slap as punishment (more excellent lawyering, folks! [my…